Navigating Oracle's public online documentation
Thursday, October 04, 2007 10:02 AM
Here's a quick guide to navigating Oracle's public online documentation library, which contains hundreds of books. Bob Watkins also offers a rundown of his favorite offerings in the collection.
In June 2006, Oracle took the unprecedented step of opening all its online documentation to public viewing without requiring an Oracle Technology Network (OTN) login. Although the documentation is still not searchable by Google's "googlebots," entries on the OTN blog promise that this is coming soon.
When I teach Oracle classes, I'm always amazed at how many people still don't know about this wonderful resource. And those who do know about it are always asking which of the literally hundreds of books in the collection have the information they need. So, here's a quick guide to navigating Oracle's public online documentation library.
When you connect to the documentation index page, you'll see links to entire sets of documentation, called libraries, arranged by product category: Database, Middleware, Applications (yes, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel too, which is a treasure trove for consultants). For the database, the last two or three versions are listed; for older versions, scroll down the page. Click on a library, and you'll see an index page for that product's documentation.
On the version index page, you can click on links to View Library online, or Download the entire thing for later perusal. There are also platform-dependent books, such as Installation Guides for Linux or Windows.
The View Library link takes you to the home page of that product's documentation set, exactly as you would see it on the documentation CD-ROM. From here, you can view individual books in either HTML or PDF format. (Tip: To download a specific book for offline viewing, choose the PDF option, then use Adobe Acrobat's "save a copy" feature.)
Besides the obvious SQL Reference and PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference, here are some of the books I use frequently:
- For information on all the DBMS_ and UTL_ packages included with Oracle, use the PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference (in earlier releases, this was called Supplied PL/SQL Packages). Besides an overview of each package, the individual procedures are described with their calling parameters.
- Need to know what an initialization parameter does? The book simply titled Reference has them all in alphabetical order. Each entry tells the permitted range, as well as whether you can change it dynamically via ALTER SYSTEM or ALTER SESSION.
- The system views are also in Reference: All the USER_, ALL_, DBA_, and V$ views are listed in alphabetical order with the output columns described.
- The New Features book for each release is a must-read. I keep a folder on my laptop with all the New Features books from 8i onward. When I'm working with a client on an older release, I can quickly check which features are available.
- New in Oracle 10g is the Sample Schemas book. The sample data sets included with Oracle have grown way past the old SCOTT/TIGER account. This book describes the rationale behind the several demo schemas, and there are even diagrams showing how the schemas reference each other.
- There is a whole series of books titled Application Developer's Guide. The Fundamentals and Large Objects (LOBs) books in this series are particularly useful.
- Finally, whether you're new to Oracle or a seasoned pro, definitely check out Concepts. I still discover new things about Oracle's architecture every time I look up something in it.
Now you can't blame the DBA for locking up the Oracle documentation in a cabinet somewhere!
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